Particularize Books As The Seven Daughters of Eve: The Science That Reveals Our Genetic Ancestry
| Original Title: | The Seven Daughters of Eve: The Science That Reveals Our Genetic Ancestry |
| ISBN: | 0393020185 (ISBN13: 9780393020182) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Literary Awards: | Prismas Casa de las Ciencias a la Divulgación for Libro editado (2002) |
Bryan Sykes
Hardcover | Pages: 320 pages Rating: 3.99 | 6180 Users | 593 Reviews
Itemize About Books The Seven Daughters of Eve: The Science That Reveals Our Genetic Ancestry
| Title | : | The Seven Daughters of Eve: The Science That Reveals Our Genetic Ancestry |
| Author | : | Bryan Sykes |
| Book Format | : | Hardcover |
| Book Edition | : | Deluxe Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 320 pages |
| Published | : | July 17th 2001 by W. W. Norton Company (first published January 1st 2001) |
| Categories | : | Science. Nonfiction. History. Biology. Genetics. Evolution. Anthropology |
Commentary In Pursuance Of Books The Seven Daughters of Eve: The Science That Reveals Our Genetic Ancestry
One of the most dramatic stories of genetic discovery since James Watson's The Double Helix—a work whose scientific and cultural reverberations will be discussed for years to come.In 1994 Professor Bryan Sykes, a leading world authority on DNA and human evolution, was called in to examine the frozen remains of a man trapped in glacial ice in northern Italy. News of both the Ice Man's discovery and his age, which was put at over five thousand years, fascinated scientists and newspapers throughout the world. But what made Sykes's story particularly revelatory was his successful identification of a genetic descendant of the Ice Man, a woman living in Great Britain today. How was Sykes able to locate a living relative of a man who died thousands of years ago?
In The Seven Daughters of Eve, he gives us a firsthand account of his research into a remarkable gene, which passes undiluted from generation to generation through the maternal line. After plotting thousands of DNA sequences from all over the world, Sykes found that they clustered around a handful of distinct groups. Among Europeans and North American Caucasians, there are, in fact, only seven. This conclusion was staggering: almost everyone of native European descent, wherever they may live throughout the world, can trace their ancestry back to one of seven women, the Seven Daughters of Eve.
Naming them Ursula, Xenia, Helena, Velda, Tara, Katrine, and Jasmine, Sykes has created portraits of their disparate worlds by mapping the migratory patterns followed by millions of their ancestors. In reading the stories of these seven women, we learn exactly how our origins can be traced, how and where our ancient genetic ancestors lived, and how we are each living proof of the almost indestructible strands of DNA, which have survived over so many thousands of years. Indeed, The Seven Daughters of Eve is filled with dramatic stories: from Sykes's identification, using DNA samples from two living relatives, of the remains of Tsar Nicholas and Tsaress Alexandra, to the Caribbean woman whose family had been sold into slavery centuries before and whose ancestry Sykes was able to trace back to the Eastern coast of central Africa. Ultimately, Sykes's investigation reveals that, as a race, what humans have in common is more deeply embedded than what separates us.
Rating About Books The Seven Daughters of Eve: The Science That Reveals Our Genetic Ancestry
Ratings: 3.99 From 6180 Users | 593 ReviewsNotice About Books The Seven Daughters of Eve: The Science That Reveals Our Genetic Ancestry
Bryan Sykes has written a supremely fascinating book. If you are interested in DNA or genetics or ancestry or science at all, you will love this book. If you've ever HEARD of DNA or genetics or science, or tried to trace your family tree, you will love this book :) Dr Sykes is one of the progenitors of modern DNA research. He was the first to propose that the mitochondrial DNA, which is inherited in an unbroken line from our mothers (and they from their mothers, etc), can be used to traceI haven't gotten very far, but I'm extremely curious about this book. The author's theory is that our genetic makeup can be traced back to just seven women; all described in the book. Can't wait to find out more!
I loved reading this book. Fascinating and written with humour and not too much jargon. Bryan Sykers does a brilliant job of bringing to life the thousands of ancestors that stand behind us and build up a picture of who we are. Favourite chaper is A sense of self. "DNA is the messanger which illuminates that connection, handed down from generation to generation, carried, literally, in the bodies of our ancestors. Each message traces a journey through time and space, a journey made by the long
After enjoying DNA USA so much, this was disappointing. I loved the stories, research hurdles, and data of the first portion, but the rest went down in a mudslide. The amount of speculation was enormous especially in origin of Polynesians, movement of neo-paleolithic peoples, and dating of the clusters. What made it worse is that he later referred to these conclusions like 'clearly,' 'as we now know,' 'without a doubt,' without furthur support, data, research, or reasoning. These footings were
A must read for those interested in our past and where we came from. Just technical enough but not overbearing for the everyday reader.
Brilliantly written and fascinating book. I guess the science is getting quite old by now, as it was written in 2001, but it was a wonderful account of how mitochondrial DNA developed. I thought that Bryan Sykes made a very complex topic extremely relatable for somebody that knows little about DNA and gene structures. I only picked this up as my daughter borrowed a selection of science books for her studies, but I read the synopsis and thought it sounded intriguing myself. I was definitely not
Named Helena, Jasmine, Kathrine, Tara, Ursula, Velda, and Xenia, the seven daughters of the books title are women who lived some 10,000 to 45,000 years ago, with nearly every European genetically linked to one of them. Figure 6 of the book, reproduced below, depicts the seven daughters (dark circles), along with their age and relationships. The map (not from the book) shows where the seven women lived and what percentage of modern Europeans are descendants of each.Link to Figure 6:
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